RSS

dunc + convergence   510

Science
Ocean surface topography data contains information that has significant practical applications in such areas as the study of worldwide weather and climate patterns, the monitoring of shoreline evolution, and the protection of our great ocean fisheries.
convergence  globalsystems  satellite  oceans 
3 days ago by dunc
NASA Mission Meets the Carbon Dioxide Measurement Challenge - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The principle behind the observatory's measurement is relatively simple. Carbon dioxide, like all molecules, has an affinity for certain colors, or wavelengths, of light that have exactly the right energy to make the molecule vibrate or rotate at specific frequencies. A good analogy would be how a radio broadcasts sounds when it is tuned to a specific channel. So, if you could shine a light through Earth's atmosphere and see how the different colors that are sensitive to carbon dioxide respond, you could use that information to calculate how much carbon dioxide is present. Do this precisely enough and often enough and it would be possible to see changes in carbon dioxide levels over time-the key to identifying carbon dioxide sources and sinks.
convergence  globalsystems  satellite  co2  sensor  NASA  JPL  carbon 
3 days ago by dunc
OSTM: TOPEX/Poseidon
TOPEX/Poseidon is a partnership between the U.S. and France to monitor global ocean circulation, discover the tie between the oceans and atmosphere, and improve global climate predictions. Every 10 days, the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite measures global sea level with unparalleled accuracy.
convergence  globalsystems  satellite  oceans  sensor  NASA  JPL 
3 days ago by dunc
Oceans Alive! | The Scientist at Sea | Remote Sensing
"Oceanographers are using remote sensing via satellites with specialized sensors and measuring devices to provide total ocean surveillance and data on a global scale."
convergence  globalsystems  satellite  sensor  oceans 
3 days ago by dunc
Prisoner's dilemma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The prisoner's dilemma is a canonical example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interest to do so.
convergence  coopetition  prisonersdilemma  gametheory  crime  reference 
5 days ago by dunc
Evolution of cooperation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Evolution of cooperation a 1984 book by Axelrod (Axelrod 1984)[1] that expanded on the paper and popularized the study.
convergence  coopetition  book  axelrod 
5 days ago by dunc
Tragedy of the commons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen.
convergence  coopetition  tragedyofthecommons  gametheory  science 
5 days ago by dunc
Why Cooperate?
The question of cooperation has fascinated and perplexed philosophers, economists, psychologists, sociologists and biologists from Aristotle to Darwin. It continues to do so today. At the heart of the debate is the relationship between the individual and the group or society to which he or she belongs: why cooperate when we believe our individual interests would be better served by acting unilaterally? This paper takes a broad, multi-disciplinary approach to answering the question ‘why cooperate?’.
convergence  coopetition  ODI  government  governance  gametheory  evolution  biology 
5 days ago by dunc
Tsunami 'Ghost Ship' Haunts Canada Coast : Discovery News
As an eerie reminder of the tragedy that befell the Japanese people more than 12 months ago, a 150-foot Japanese fishing boat has been spotted on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, floating aimlessly off the coast of the Haida Gwaii islands, British Columbia.
convergence  globalsystems  ghostship  tsunami  discovery 
13 days ago by dunc
Tracking Debris from the Tohoku Tsunami : Image of the Day
"The Surface Current from Diagnostic (SCUD) model was developed by Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner of the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at the University of Hawaii. Using real satellite data on sea surface height and on ocean surface winds—as well as information from scientific drifting buoy networks—the IPRC team makes daily maps of surface currents. Hafner and Maximenko have also collected reports of debris sightings in the ocean, which have so far validated what the model tells them."
convergence  globalsystems  satellite  sensor  gis  nasa 
13 days ago by dunc
BBC News - The world's five biggest cyber threats
"As computers organise and dominate more and more of our world, five distinct threats are emerging, says Eugene Kaspersky, founder and chief executive of Russian computer security firm Kaspersky Lab and speaker at this year's Counter Terror Expo in London."
convergence  cybercrime  bbc  stuxnet 
13 days ago by dunc
Myself, quantified | Extenuating Circumstances
"I love data, but I don’t think I’m typical. Right now, I think very few (less than five?) of my friends have blood sugar meters and access to the data in them (although diabetes isn’t something that many people talk about). About the same number of my friends have Withings scales. I think no one I know has a Withings blood pressure meter. While I think less than ten of my friends have Fitbits, thirty one(!) of my Facebook friends have Nike+ Fuelband devices. But this probably reflects the fact that I work with a lot of people who work on, or with, Nike now. I have no idea how many of my friends are on Nike+ Running. I do know that about 17 of my Facebook friends are on Runkeeper."
selfsurveillance  convergence  data  health  information 
13 days ago by dunc
Digital Urban: PGR 4 - Building the City Video
"Project Gotham leads the way in digital city production and we can often be found not playing the game as such but driving around to simply look at the 3D city models."
convergence  transmedia  games  cities 
13 days ago by dunc
Biomimicry Pictures: Nature Yields New Ideas for Renewable Energy and Efficiency
WhalePower's product is "the first time, other than in whales and some fossilized fish, that this has been done," said WhalePower Vice President of Operations Stephen Dewar. "Everyone knew" that a blade's leading edge should be smooth to facilitate air flow, but the humpback whale proved everyone wrong.
convergence  biomimicry  whale  form 
4 weeks ago by dunc
Satellites and global health: Remote diagnosis | The Economist
IN DECEMBER 1997 large numbers of cattle, goats and sheep began dying in the Garissa district of north-eastern Kenya. A month later people started dying, too. It was, at the time, the biggest recorded outbreak of Rift Valley fever in east Africa. Some 100,000 stock animals succumbed and about 90,000 people were infected—hundreds fatally—in five countries. In December 2007 the same thing happened. Or, rather, it started to happen but was stopped in its tracks. The difference was that the second time around there was warning.
convergence  pathogen_promiscuity  satellite  gis  disease 
7 weeks ago by dunc
The Food Issue - An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief - Michael Pollan - NYTimes.com
By the end of the war, more than 20 million home gardens were supplying 40 percent of the produce consumed in America. The president should throw his support behind a new Victory Garden movement, this one seeking “victory” over three critical challenges we face today: high food prices, poor diets and a sedentary population. Eating from this, the shortest food chain of all, offers anyone with a patch of land a way to reduce their fossil-fuel consumption and help fight climate change. (We should offer grants to cities to build allotment gardens for people without access to land.)
convergence  urbanagriculture  food  victorygardens  agritecture 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Why is Urban Agriculture important? | RUAF - Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security
Urban agriculture provides a complementary strategy to reduce urban poverty and food insecurity and enhance urban environmental management. Urban agriculture plays an important role in enhancing urban food security since the costs of supplying and distributing food to urban areas based on rural production and imports continue to increase, and do not satisfy the demand, especially of the poorer sectors of the population. Next to food security, urban agriculture contributes to local economic development, poverty alleviation and social inclusion of the urban poor and women in particular, as well as to the greening of the city and the productive reuse of urban wastes.
convergence  urbanagriculture  foodsecurity  food  agritecture 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Victory Gardens : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive
The United States Department of Agriculture issued a 20 minute film to promote and train people how to plant victory gardens titled Victory Garden
convergence  urbanagriculture  farming  victorygardens  agritecture 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Vertical farming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vertical farming is a concept that argues that it is economically and environmentally viable to cultivate plant or animal life within skyscrapers, or on vertically inclined surfaces. The idea of a vertical farm has existed at least since the early 1950s and built precedents are well documented by John Hix in his canonical text "The Glass House"
convergence  urbanagriculture  agritecture  verticalfarming  farming  cities 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Spotlight: Urban agriculture
Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) occurs within and surrounding the boundaries of cities throughout the world and includes crop and livestock production, fisheries and forestry, as well as the ecological services they provide. Often multiple farming and gardening systems exist in and near a single city. UPA is estimated to involve 800 million urban residents worldwide in income-earning and/or food-producing activities. The findings of national censuses, household surveys and research projects suggest that up to two-thirds of urban and peri-urban households are involved in agriculture. Much of the food produced is for own consumption, with occasional surpluses sold to local markets. Farming is done in city core areas, wedge areas and corridors out of the city, and on the periphery. One study of urban agriculture in Nairobi showed the land used for farming was 32% private residential land, 29% roadside land, 16% along river banks, and 16% in other publicly-owned areas.
convergence  urbanagriculture  agritecture  UN  FAO 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Palantir, the War on Terror's Secret Weapon - Businessweek
An organization like the CIA or FBI can have thousands of different databases, each with its own quirks: financial records, DNA samples, sound samples, video clips, maps, floor plans, human intelligence reports from all over the world. Gluing all that into a coherent whole can take years. Even if that system comes together, it will struggle to handle different types of data—sales records on a spreadsheet, say, plus video surveillance images. What Palantir (pronounced Pal-an-TEER) does, says Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner (IT), is “make it really easy to mine these big data sets.” The company’s software pulls off one of the great computer science feats of the era: It combs through all available databases, identifying related pieces of information, and puts everything together in one place.
convergence  infinitecontent  irreversiblescience  cybercrime  bigdata  government 
7 weeks ago by dunc
How The "Internet Of Things" Is Turning Cities Into Living Organisms | Fast Company
"The big picture is that we are able to take any piece of information that is Internet-accessible, any feed, and integrate it into the logic of how we operate these components of our city," says Quigley. Geosyntec's cloud-based infrastructure is just as important as the physical infrastructure it puts into place on-site. Led by software developer Alex Bedig, the company has created a general-purpose platform for handling all the relevant inputs, sending instructions to valves and other control points, and never, ever failing in an emergency.
convergence  iot  biomimicry  water 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Kenya Has Mobile Health App Fever - Technology Review
In Kenya, the ratio of patients to doctors is 6,000 to 1, and the dearth of health professionals isn't the only challenge to accessing decent health care. Unlicensed impostors hand out expired medicines to people who don't know any better, and a shortage of public information on health services makes it easier for quacks to lure victims. This fall alone, 22 illegal health clinic were shut down by Kenyan authorities.
convergence  health2.0  leapfrogging  africa  health  mobile 
7 weeks ago by dunc
The Eatery: Massive Health Experiment #01
Use The Eatery to snap photos of your food. We’ll give you something much more helpful than calorie counts. We’ll provide a big-picture breakdown of your habits, including your strengths, weaknesses, and the best places to start making a change. Other apps tell you about your food. We tell you about yourself.
convergence  selfsurveillance  app  apps  food  health  iphone  health2.0 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Nike+ FuelBand | Uncrate
a wearable bracelet that uses a built-in three-axis accelerometer to track the time, your daily steps, calories expended, and NikeFuel — a normalized score based on oxygen kinetics that awards points equally regardless of physical makeup.
convergence  selfsurveillance  nike 
7 weeks ago by dunc
The top 10 emerging technologies for 2012 | Forum:Blog | The World Economic Forum
At the Summit on the Global Agenda 2011 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies asked some of the world’s leading minds within the entire GAC Network which technology trends would have the greatest impact on the state of the world in the near future.
convergence  trends  wef  future  technology  2011 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Google hits to warn of flu epidemics | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Google Flu Trends uses the tendency of people to seek online help for their health problems. By tracking searches for terms such as 'cough', 'fever' and 'aches and pains' it claims to be able to accurately estimate where flu is circulating.
convergence  pathogen_promiscuity  google  infinitecontent  health2.0  flu 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Why Big Data is now such a big deal
The story is the same wherever you look. Retailers such as Walmart, Tesco and Amazon do millions of transactions every hour and store all the data relating to each in colossal databases they then “mine” for information about market trends, consumer behaviour and other things. The same goes for Google, Facebook and Twitter et al. For these outfits, data is the new gold.
convergence  infinitecontent  bigdata  data  psfk 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Who Does Google Think You Are? - Businessweek
"Google actually knows far more than browsing histories, though. It knows what people write in Gmail messages, what YouTube videos they prefer, and where they go with an Android phone." they seem to have a pretty accurate picture of me...
convergence  selfsurveillance  google  businessweek 
7 weeks ago by dunc
WHO | Summary table of SARS cases by country, 1 November 2002 - 7 August 2003
This table summarizes the cumulative number of reported probable cases of SARS for the period 16 November 2002 to 7 August 2003. Review of cases is still ongoing in some countries/areas. WHO continues to consolidate and update global surveillance data for the outbreak period and will publish these findings on this site.
convergence  pathogen_promiscuity  sars  WHO 
7 weeks ago by dunc
One Million Backers » The Kickstarter Blog — Kickstarter
Interestingly the milestones of 1,000,000 backers and $100,000,000 pledged came within 48 hours of one another. This suggests the value of each backer being $100, and that’s about right. The average pledge amount is $71 and the average backer pledges to 1.4 projects.
convergence  newphilanthropy  kickstarter  socialeconomy  banking  business 
7 weeks ago by dunc
World_info_capacity_animation - YouTube
This animation presents several intuitive analogies that explain the growth and the current state of the world's technological capacity to store, communicate and compute information.
convergence  infinitecontent  youtube 
7 weeks ago by dunc
IDC - Press Release 2012 predictions
Big Data will earn its place as the next "must have" competency in 2012 as the volume of digital content grows to 2.7 zettabytes (ZB), up 48% from 2011. Over 90% of this information will be unstructured (e.g., images, videos, MP3 files, and files based on social media and Web-enabled workloads) – full of rich information, but challenging to understand and analyze. As businesses seek to squeeze high-value insights from this data, IDC expects to see offerings that more closely integrate data and analytics technologies, such as in-memory databases and BI tools, move into the mainstream. And, like the cloud services market, 2012 is likely to be a busy year for Big Data-driven mergers and acquisitions as large IT vendors seek to acquire additional functionality.
convergence  infinitecontent  bigdata  storage  technology 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Internet 2011 in numbers
Websites
555 million – Number of websites (December 2011).
300 million – Added websites in 2011.
... nice round up of stats from around the internet.
convergence  infinitecontent  statistics  data 
7 weeks ago by dunc
Massive data storage through new 'BEANs' - News - Institute of Nanotechnology
Now an entire new class of phase-change materials has been discovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley that could be applied to phase change random access memory (PCM) technologies and possibly optical data storage as well. The new phase-change materials – nanocrystal alloys of a metal and semiconductor – are called “BEANs,” for binary eutectic-alloy nanostructures.
convergence  infinitecontent  nanotech  storage 
7 weeks ago by dunc
A Netflix for Poop: DNA Sequencing's Next Turn - Businessweek
Cities could collect samples from airports, train stations, and emergency rooms and “build up a map, sort of like a weather map, that show pathogen flows over time.” Start data mining sewage systems, and you could probably detect the arrival of something like H1N1 early enough to prevent an outbreak, Schadt says. “We are finding viruses specific to the foods you eat, like chicken, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic,” he says. “If we have different sewage substations, we could address the diet compositions of the whole population and correlate it with health.”
convergence  nanotech  AutodeskIDEAS  pathogen_promiscuity  DNA  genetech 
8 weeks ago by dunc
Researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute Develop DNA Nanorobot to Trigger Targeted Therapeutic Responses : Wyss Institute at Harvard
Using the DNA origami method, in which complex three-dimensional shapes and objects are constructed by folding strands of DNA, Shawn Douglas, Ph.D., a Wyss Technology Development Fellow, and Ido Bachelet, Ph.D., a former Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow who is now an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Nano-Center at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, created a nanosized robot in the form of an open barrel whose two halves are connected by a hinge. The DNA barrel, which acts as a container, is held shut by special DNA latches that can recognize and seek out combinations of cell-surface proteins, including disease markers. When the latches find their targets, they reconfigure, causing the two halves of the barrel to swing open and expose its contents, or payload.
convergence  nanotech  cadnano  AutodeskIDEAS  robotics 
8 weeks ago by dunc
welcome | cadnano
cadnano simplifies and enhances the process of designing three-dimensional DNA origami nanostructures. Through its user-friendly 2D and 3D interfaces it accelerates the creation of arbitrary designs. The embedded rules within cadnano paired with the finite element analysis performed by cando, provide relative certainty of the stability of the structures.
convergence  bioengineering  biology  dna  nanotech  cadnano  AutodeskIDEAS 
8 weeks ago by dunc
BIOMOD | International Biomolecular Design Competition
BIOMOD is a design competition in which undergraduate teams compete to master control of biomolecules on the nanometer scale. Focus areas may include—but are not limited to—biomolecular robotics, biomolecular logic and computing, and structural bionanotechnology. Students conceive and execute projects during the summer and then gather in Boston in November to present their work and win awards.
convergence  nanotech  biotech  biology  AutodeskIDEAS  biomod  competition  genetech 
8 weeks ago by dunc
How Crowdfunding Could Help Cure Rare Diseases
Dubbed the Rare Genomics Institute, the non-profit organization could be considered a Kickstarter for genomics. The project first connects a patient with a research institution that’s willing to take their case, and then develops a budget that can be funded by friends, family and online supporters.
convergence  nanotech  health2.0  genetics  AutodeskIDEAS  crowdsourcing 
8 weeks ago by dunc
Seafood mislabeled, misidentified species of fish, CR investigates
We sent our fresh and frozen fish samples to an outside lab for DNA testing. Researchers extracted genetic material from each sample and compared the genetic sequences against standardized gene fragments that identify its species in much the same way that criminal investigators use genetic fingerprinting.
convergence  nanotech  DNA  AutodeskIDEAS  genetech 
8 weeks ago by dunc
MinION: a miniaturised sensing instrument - Technology - Oxford Nanopore Technologies
MinION is a disposable device that contains the sensor chip, ASIC and nanopores that are needed to perform a complete single molecule sensing experiment. Plugging directly into a laptop or desktop computer through a USB port, it is a self contained device to deliver real time experimental data. The MinION is adaptable for DNA sequencing, protein sensing and other nanopore sensing techniques. 
convergence  nanotech  nanopore  Oxford  AutodeskIDEAS 
8 weeks ago by dunc
Nanopore DNA sequencing on Vimeo
This movie provides an overview of how nanopores can be used to sequence DNA.
convergence  nanotech  nanopore  DNA  Oxford  AutodeskIDEAS 
8 weeks ago by dunc
Funds that shake capitalist logic - FT.com
In the last month we have seen government-controlled Chinese entities take the largest external stake (albeit non-voting) in Blackstone, a big private equity group that, indirectly through its holdings, is one of the largest employers in the US. The government of Qatar is seeking to gain control of J. Sainsbury, one of Britain’s largest supermarket chains. Gazprom, a Russian conglomerate in effect controlled by the Kremlin, has strategic interests in the energy sectors of a number of countries and even a stake in Airbus. Entities controlled by the governments of China and Singapore are offering to take a substantial stake in Barclays, giving it more heft in its effort to pull off the world’s largest banking merger, with ABN Amro.
convergence  sovereignwealth  finance  FT 
10 weeks ago by dunc
23 and John Doe: thoughts on today’s genetic testing sale at 23andMe | :Ben Metcalfe Blog
In general insurance companies require you to disclose any and all information that you have that would be pertinent to them assessing risk. Clearly for medical and life insurance you knowing there is a high chance you will get Parkinsons (for example) is information your insurer would like to know. Here in the US there are currently laws – such as Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) – to prevent insurance companies demanding this information. However laws can be repealed. The health care and insurance industries are the ‘leaders’ in government lobbying. 23andMe could be aquired by an insurance firm.
convergence  genetech  insurance  privacy  23andme 
10 weeks ago by dunc
23andMe presents top 10 most interesting genetic findings of 2010
It was a great year for 23andMe, as it proudly announced that its new web-based research paradigm (23andWe) works and unveiled its first peer-reviewed scientific study. The results, published last spring in PLoS Genetics, encompassed replications of previous findings as well as newly discovered genetic associations. 23andWe is a web-based, participant-driven research framework designed to facilitate the rapid recruitment and phenotyping of participants for many studies at once, thus reducing the time and money needed to make new discoveries. In this peer-reviewed paper 23andMe confirmed that self-reported data from customers has the potential to yield data of comparable quality as data gathered using traditional research methods, moving scientific research forward, faster.
convergence  genetech  23andme  research 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Bye, Bye Pills! MIT Develops Internal 'Micro Pharmacy'
Eventually, devices could be designed that can automatically deliver drugs after sensing that they’re needed. For example, they could release chemotherapy agents if a tumor starts to regrow, or deliver insulin if a diabetic patient has high blood sugar.
convergence  biotech  sensor  precisiontherapy 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Why I left Google
Technically I suppose Google has always been an advertising company, but for the better part of the last three years, it didn’t feel like one. Google was an ad company only in the sense that a good TV show is an ad company: having great content attracts advertisers.
convergence  infinitecontent  facebook  google  social  innovation 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Bioterrorism and Biocrimes
WORKING PAPER Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents Since 1900. By Dr. Seth W. Carus
convergence  bioterrorism  irreversiblescience 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Wired 8.04: Why the future doesn't need us.
Bill Joy in Wired 2004 - The nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) technologies used in 20th-century weapons of mass destruction were and are largely military, developed in government laboratories. In sharp contrast, the 21st-century genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR) technologies have clear commercial uses and are being developed almost exclusively by corporate enterprises. In this age of triumphant commercialism, technology - with science as its handmaiden - is delivering a series of almost magical inventions that are the most phenomenally lucrative ever seen. We are aggressively pursuing the promises of these new technologies within the now-unchallenged system of global capitalism and its manifold financial incentives and competitive pressures.
convergence  bioterrorism  wired  future  science  technology  irreversiblescience 
10 weeks ago by dunc
CDC | Bioterrorism Overview
Bioterrorism agents can be separated into three categories, depending on how easily they can be spread and the severity of illness or death they cause. Category A agents are considered the highest risk and Category C agents are those that are considered emerging threats for disease.
convergence  bioterrorism  biology  irreversiblescience 
10 weeks ago by dunc
WikiLeaks cables: US officials voiced fears India could be target of biological terrorism | World news | The Guardian
It also warns terrorists could easily find the material they need for bioterrorism in India and use the country as a base for launching an international campaign involving the spread of fatal diseases. "The plethora of indigenous highly pathogenic and virulent agents naturally occurring in India and the large Indian industrial base – combined with weak controls – also make India as much a source of bioterrorism material as a target," diplomats warned.
convergence  bioterrorism  biotech  india  terrorism  wikileaks  irreversiblescience 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Open311 Workshop - Code for America Summit
Interesting slide deck focusing on 311 / fixmystreet applications
convergence  urbaninformatics  codeforamerica  311  fixmystreet  opendata  opengov 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Welcome ! | Opencities
Open Cities is a project co-founded by the European Union that aims to validate how to approach Open & User Driven Innovation methodologies to the Public Sector in a scenario of Future Internet Services for Smart Cities. It will do so, by leveraging existing tools, trials and platforms in Crowdsourcing, Open Data, Fiber to the Home and Open Sensor Networks in seven major European cities: Helsinki, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Bologna.
convergence  urbaninformatics  cities  crowdsourcing  iot  sustainability 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Reroute.It | Code for America
"ReRoute.it is a mobile application that helps people make informed transportation chioces. The app does so by turning the regular transit app on its head — and forces us to consider the consequences before we make our decision. ReRoute.it lets you compare every option with regard to time, cost, health, and environmental impact. Is a bike as fast as the bus but a quarter the cost? Info like that helps people understand transportation choices as something that impacts us all in a variety of ways."
convergence  urbaninformatics  transport  opendata  opengov  code  codeforamerica 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Code for America | A New Kind of Public Service
"The Code for America program is not a typical software development contract. Through our fellowship, we recruit the top talent from the tech industry to give a year building civic software that will help cities cut costs, work smarter, and engage more with their citizens. Our program is structured to not only create immediate impact with our projects, but also catalyze long-term, sustainable change for both our cities and our fellows."
convergence  urbaninformatics  code  community  government  opensource 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Handbook of Research on Urban Informatics: a matter of ‘U-City’ or ‘U-Citizens?’
"Yet, urban informatics is not the same as urban computing. It is not so much about the technology (computing), but rather about its implications for (human) city life" book review of Marcus Foths - research in urban informatics book
convergence  urbaninformatics  books 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Open Source Urbanism - Op-Ed - Domus
As a technological practice of innovation, Open Source has not quite been about cities, but about the technology. Yet it resonates with what cities have and are at ground-level, where its users are. The park is made not only with the hardware of trees and ponds, but also with the software of people's practices.
convergence  urbaninformatics  urbancomputing  usercentred  usergenerated  social  architecture  cities  city  design 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Urban Informatics » From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen (MIT Press 2011)
Chapters by leading researchers in the emerging field of urban informatics outline the theoretical context of their inquiries, describing a new view of the city as a hybrid that merges digital and physical worlds; examine technology-aided engagement involving issues of food, the environment, and sustainability; explore the creative use of location-based mobile technology in cities from Melbourne, Australia, to Dhaka, Bangladesh; study technological innovations for improving civic engagement; and discuss design research approaches for understanding the development of sentient real-time cities, including interaction portals and robots.
convergence  urbaninformatics  book 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Calera - cement inspired by nature
"The heart of the Calera process is the formation of novel, metastable calcium and magnesium carbonate and bicarbonate minerals, similar to those found in the skeletons of marine animals and plants, by capturing carbon dioxide from flue gas and converting the gas to stable solid minerals. These novel 'polymorphs' make it possible to produce high reactive cements without calcining the carbonate as is the case with conventional portland cement."
convergence  biomimicry  cement  science  chemistry 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Mobile banking: A bank in every pocket? | The Economist
“The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because “it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services.” On mobile banking services and developing nations.
convergence  leapfrogging  banking  mobile  economist 
10 weeks ago by dunc
The World in 2011: ICT Facts and Figures
The World in 2011: ICT Facts and Figures (pdf format) features end 2011 estimates for ITU’s key telecommunication/ICT indicators. The brochure, which was published on the occasion of ITU Telecom, on October 25th, 2011, highlights the latest global ICT facts and trends and includes figures on Internet use, fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions, international Internet bandwidth, home ICT access, and more."
convergence  leapfrogging  internet  mobile  statistics 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Nanotechnology - Industry Outlook Series, Global Industry Analysts Inc.
"Global Nanotechnology Market to Reach US$30.4 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global outlook on the Nanotechnology Industry. Nanotechnology products present potential for cheaper, faster, and more environmental friendly applications and therefore continue to retain its importance in the global R&D and commercialization efforts. Backed by huge number of Government sponsored projects, demand for nanotechnology enabled products continues to remain encouraging, thus projecting a positive outlook for the overall market."
convergence  nanotech  nanohazards 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Nathan Wolfe's jungle search for viruses | Video on TED.com
"Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering deadly new viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives."
convergence  pathogen_promiscuity  TED  virus 
10 weeks ago by dunc
WHO | Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network
"The Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) is a technical collaboration of existing institutions and networks who pool human and technical resources for the rapid identification, confirmation and response to outbreaks of international importance. The Network provides an operational framework to link this expertise and skill to keep the international community constantly alert to the threat of outbreaks and ready to respond."
convergence  pathogen_promiscuity  health 
10 weeks ago by dunc
GVFI.org | Global Viral Forecasting Initiative
"The Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI) is 501c3 not-for-profit whose team has spent the last 10+ years developing a global system to prevent pandemics. Current global disease control focuses almost exclusively on responding to epidemics after they have already spread globally. Nevertheless, dramatic failures in such pandemic control, such as the ongoing lack of success in HIV vaccine development twenty-five years into the pandemic, have shown that this wait-and-respond approach is not sufficient. The development of systems to prevent novel pandemics before they are established should be considered a human health imperative. Had we had such systems in place thirty years ago, we may have averted the HIV pandemic."
convergence  pathogen_promiscuity  disease  health  preventative  health2.0 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Origins of major human infectious diseases
Illustration of the five stages through which pathogens of animals evolve to cause diseases confined to humans. (pdf of review by Nathan Wolfe in Nature)
convergence  pathogen_promiscuity  disease  nature 
10 weeks ago by dunc
Stephen Wolfram Blog : The Personal Analytics of My Life
"Here’s a plot with a dot showing the time of each of the third of a million emails I’ve sent since 1989" pretty amazing example of personal analytics going back 20 years of digital archiving.
convergence  personal-informatics  analytics  data  visualization  selfsurveillance  quantifiedself 
11 weeks ago by dunc
Printing Food | Cornell Creative Machines Lab
"Hydrocolloid Printing: A Novel Platform for Customized Food Production"
3Dprinting  food  arupexplores  prototyping  convergence 
11 weeks ago by dunc
Freakonomics » Waiter, There’s a Physicist in My Soup, Part 2
"So what would happen is, just like an inkjet printer you have at home, instead of putting down droplets of ink, I’m putting down droplets of food.? But I control every single pixel.? I can use a laser to cook a pixel of food and get it exactly as warm as I want, cooked as slow or as fast as I want. … I think by comparison, what has been done in cooking is Neanderthal, it’s very primitive.?"
3Dprinting  arupexplores  prototyping  convergence  food 
11 weeks ago by dunc
Apple Tests AT&T business model | Business Model Institute
"AT&T’s market share growth was largely dependent upon exclusive availability of the iPhone."
convergence  coopetition  apple  at&t  business 
12 weeks ago by dunc
As iPhone brings in record profits for Apple, AT&T and Verizon see losses - iPhone app article - Phil Hornshaw | Appolicious ™ iPhone and iPad App Directory
"The iPhone effect hit AT&T as well, which reported that some 80 percent of all the smartphones it sold during the quarter were iPhones, according to a ZDNet report. AT&T said it sold 9.4 million smartphones in the quarter, of which 7.6 million were iPhones. [....] Meanwhile, Apple reported an insane record quarter: $46.3 billion in revenue and $13.8 billion in profits. Apple’s huge numbers had a lot to do with the popularity of the iPhone 4S" whilst coopetition creates a bigger pie for businesses to capture, it is usually one of the coopetitors that gets the better deal.
coopetition  convergence  apple  at&t  mobile  business 
12 weeks ago by dunc
Pedestrian path measurement technology | Path Intelligence
"The units measure signals from the consumers' mobile phones using unique technology that can locate a consumer's position to within a few metres. These units feed this data (24 hours a day 7 days a week) to a processing centre, where the data is audited and sophisticated statistical analysis is applied to create continuously updated information on the flow of shoppers throughout the centre. At any time the shopping centre management can access the data via PI's secure web-based reporting system."
convergence  mobile  analytics  retail  tracking  geoweb  locationawareness 
12 weeks ago by dunc
Jeff Jonas: Your Movements Speak for Themselves: Space-Time Travel Data is Analytic Super-Food!
"Large space-time data sets combined with advanced analytics enable a degree of understanding, discovery, and prediction that may be hard for many people to fully appreciate. Better prediction means a more efficient enterprise and nifty consumer services.  Cellular companies are now receiving essential insight about their customers (e.g., to better understand and predict customer churn).  Major retailers can now better understand changes in consumer behavior (e.g., how far their customers are traveling on average this month compared to previous months).  Consumers are benefiting by getting real-time traffic information so they can avoid congested roads."
convergence  phone  analytics  data  location  mobile  privacy  artificialintelligence  retail  geoweb  locationawareness 
12 weeks ago by dunc
Delicious.com - [Fabbing - Trends and examples of 3d printing]
"Today we are coming a bit closer. We now can print objects in plastics, metal, ceramics and glas. Bioplotters are available for printing tissue and maybe even organs in the future. "
3Dprinting  arupexplores  convergence  prototyping  maker  delicious  links 
february 2012 by dunc
Video: Lisa Harouni's talk at Wired 2011 - Watch online (Wired UK)
"Put your hand up if you know how to use a CAD package," Harouni asks the audience. A few brave hands go up, but most of the audience look like they're not entirely sure what CAD even stands for. "That's why. If I gave you a 3D printer, you wouldn't be able to use it."

Harouni wants to fix that, with her company Digital Forming. "Tools have emerged that are democratising design and make it possible for this technology to reach the public.
3Dprinting  arupexplores  prototyping  maker  convergence  digitalforming  wired 
february 2012 by dunc
Using 3-D Printing Tech, British Airbus Engineers Aim to Print Out an Entire Aircraft Wing | Popular Science
"...chiefly due to developments that allow modern 3-D printers to turn out finished objects in media ranging from the high-grade titanium alloys necessary for aircraft construction to glass, plastics, concrete, and even frosting. Printing finished parts saves on production costs because there is dramatically less waste (especially in the case of airframe components, which can leave up to 90 percent of a block of pricey titanium on the machine shop floor) and it allows manufacturers to tweak designs or customize parts at a fraction of the cost of re-tooling a machining process."
3Dprinting  arupexplores  prototyping  maker  convergence 
february 2012 by dunc
Disruptions: The 3-D Printing Free-for-All - NYTimes.com
"These 3-D printers, some already costing less than a computer did in 1999, can print objects by spraying layers of plastic, metal or ceramics into shapes. People can download plans for an object, hit print, and a few minutes later have it in their hands."
3Dprinting  arupexplores  prototyping  maker  convergence 
february 2012 by dunc
EADS Airbike made of steel-strength nylon
"Engineers from the Bristol wing of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) have announced the development of the first bicycle using Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) technology. The manufacturing process involves "growing" the components from a fine nylon powder, similar in concept to 3D printing."
3Dprinting  arupexplores  prototyping  maker  convergence  EADS 
february 2012 by dunc
No Joke: These Guys Created A Machine For Printing Houses On The Moon | Co.Design: business + innovation + design
"Using a technique called contour crafting, they propose sending robots to seed the surface of the moon with the basic infrastructure for a moon base (landing pads, roads, hangars, etc.). Once the construction is completed, human crew could lift off and move into their new home." 3D printing of concrete on the moon.
3Dprinting  convergence  maker  prototyping  arupexplores  architecture 
february 2012 by dunc
« earlier      

related tags

3D ⊕  3Dprinting ⊕  23andme ⊕  accreditation ⊕  africa ⊕  aggregator ⊕  agritecture ⊕  airbnb ⊕  alliance ⊕  amateur ⊕  amazon ⊕  ambientdisplay ⊕  analytics ⊕  android ⊕  annualreport ⊕  api ⊕  app ⊕  apple ⊕  apps ⊕  AR ⊕  architecture ⊕  arduino ⊕  art ⊕  artificialintelligence ⊕  arup ⊕  arupexplores ⊕  astronomer ⊕  at&t ⊕  audio ⊕  augmented ⊕  AutodeskIDEAS ⊕  axelrod ⊕  banking ⊕  bbc ⊕  beauty ⊕  BEM ⊕  bigdata ⊕  BIM ⊕  bioengineering ⊕  biology ⊕  biomimicry ⊕  biomod ⊕  biorisk ⊕  biotech ⊕  bioterrorism ⊕  blogs ⊕  book ⊕  books ⊕  brain ⊕  branding ⊕  business ⊕  businessweek ⊕  C40 ⊕  cadnano ⊕  campus ⊕  car ⊕  carbon ⊕  caringinvestors ⊕  cement ⊕  chemistry ⊕  china ⊕  cim ⊕  cisco ⊕  cities ⊕  citizenscience ⊕  city ⊕  climatechange ⊕  clintonclimateinitiative ⊕  cloudcomputing ⊕  clustercomputing ⊕  co2 ⊕  code ⊕  codeforamerica ⊕  codingforkids ⊕  collaboration ⊕  collaborative_consumption ⊕  collectiveintelligence ⊕  community ⊕  competition ⊕  concrete ⊕  conference ⊕  conferences ⊕  Conferences09Redux ⊕  consumer ⊕  contextaware ⊕  convergence ⊖  coopetition ⊕  craft ⊕  creativity ⊕  crime ⊕  criticism ⊕  crowdsourcing ⊕  csr ⊕  cultural ⊕  culture ⊕  custom ⊕  cutnpastecity ⊕  cybercrime ⊕  dashboards ⊕  data ⊕  database ⊕  dataenergy ⊕  datalogging ⊕  datamining ⊕  datasets ⊕  dayinthelife ⊕  definition ⊕  delicious ⊕  demographics ⊕  design ⊕  designbyarup ⊕  designcouncil ⊕  designresearch ⊕  digitalforming ⊕  discovery ⊕  disease ⊕  diy ⊕  diycity ⊕  dna ⊕  doorsofperception ⊕  dopplr ⊕  driversofchange ⊕  dublinparlour ⊕  EADS ⊕  ecology ⊕  economics ⊕  economist ⊕  education ⊕  ehealth ⊕  electronics ⊕  energy ⊕  environment ⊕  etech ⊕  ethnography ⊕  eu ⊕  evolution ⊕  facebook ⊕  FAO ⊕  faraday ⊕  farming ⊕  fiction ⊕  film ⊕  finance ⊕  firefox ⊕  fixmystreet ⊕  flickr ⊕  flow ⊕  flu ⊕  food ⊕  foodsecurity ⊕  forbes ⊕  foresight ⊕  form ⊕  foursquare ⊕  fp7 ⊕  fraud ⊕  FT ⊕  fujitsu ⊕  functionalfood ⊕  future ⊕  futureinternet ⊕  games ⊕  gametheory ⊕  ganstabucks ⊕  garmin ⊕  gatesfoundation ⊕  GDR ⊕  gecko ⊕  genetech ⊕  genetics ⊕  genome ⊕  geolocation ⊕  geoweb ⊕  gesture ⊕  ghostship ⊕  gis ⊕  givinglist ⊕  global ⊕  globalisation ⊕  globalsystems ⊕  google ⊕  googlemaps ⊕  gov.uk ⊕  governance ⊕  government ⊕  gps ⊕  greenscreen ⊕  hackday ⊕  hacking ⊕  hacks ⊕  hbr ⊕  headstone ⊕  health ⊕  health2.0 ⊕  healthcare ⊕  healthtourism ⊕  hel ⊕  helsinki ⊕  history ⊕  holistic ⊕  howto ⊕  icrossing ⊕  ict ⊕  imu ⊕  india ⊕  infinitecontent ⊕  infographics ⊕  informatics ⊕  information ⊕  innovation ⊕  inspiration ⊕  institute ⊕  insulin ⊕  insurance ⊕  interaction ⊕  interactive ⊕  interface ⊕  internet ⊕  internetofthings ⊕  investmentinarup ⊕  iot ⊕  iotexpertgroup ⊕  ip ⊕  iphone ⊕  ipod ⊕  irreversiblescience ⊕  IT ⊕  JPL ⊕  jurisdiction ⊕  khanacademy ⊕  kickstarter ⊕  land ⊕  leadership ⊕  leapfrogging ⊕  learning ⊕  LEGO ⊕  libelium ⊕  lifehacks ⊕  lifescience ⊕  lifestyle ⊕  lifetracking ⊕  lighting ⊕  links ⊕  location ⊕  locationawareness ⊕  logistics ⊕  london ⊕  lost ⊕  make ⊕  maker ⊕  malware ⊕  management ⊕  mapping ⊕  maps ⊕  market ⊕  media ⊕  medical ⊕  meetimer ⊕  memory ⊕  mems ⊕  metaverse ⊕  metrics ⊕  microdonations ⊕  microfinance ⊕  microlending ⊕  millennials ⊕  mit ⊕  mmog ⊕  mobile ⊕  monitoring ⊕  mood ⊕  mpesa ⊕  multitouch ⊕  n95 ⊕  nanohazards ⊕  nanopore ⊕  nanotech ⊕  nasa ⊕  nature ⊕  nbic ⊕  nesta ⊕  netflix ⊕  networks ⊕  neuroscience ⊕  neurosystems ⊕  newphilanthropists ⊕  newphilanthropy ⊕  newspaper ⊕  nike ⊕  nokia ⊕  norton ⊕  nsf ⊕  nuclear ⊕  nutraceutical ⊕  oceans ⊕  ODI ⊕  office ⊕  opendata ⊕  opengov ⊕  openinnovation ⊕  opensource ⊕  Oxford ⊕  pachube ⊕  pandemic ⊕  paper ⊕  parking ⊕  pathogen_promiscuity ⊕  patientslikeme ⊕  peertopeer ⊕  pennies ⊕  peoplecounting ⊕  personal ⊕  personal-informatics ⊕  pervasive2010 ⊕  philanthropists ⊕  philanthropy ⊕  phone ⊕  photography ⊕  physical_computing ⊕  piratebay ⊕  podcasts ⊕  policy ⊕  politics ⊕  ports ⊕  poverty ⊕  power ⊕  precisiontherapy ⊕  predictions ⊕  preventative ⊕  prisonersdilemma ⊕  prius ⊕  privacy ⊕  proams ⊕  processing.org ⊕  productivity ⊕  programming ⊕  prototype ⊕  prototyping ⊕  psfk ⊕  quantifiedself ⊕  radiohead ⊕  recycling ⊕  reference ⊕  report ⊕  research ⊕  resilience ⊕  resourceaccountability ⊕  retail ⊕  rfid ⊕  richlist ⊕  risk ⊕  robotics ⊕  roi ⊕  rss ⊕  ruby ⊕  running ⊕  samsung ⊕  sars ⊕  satellite ⊕  scenarios ⊕  schulzeandwebb ⊕  science ⊕  scifi ⊕  scifoo ⊕  search ⊕  seewatt ⊕  selfsufficiency ⊕  selfsurveillance ⊕  sensei_fp7 ⊕  sensor ⊕  sensors ⊕  service ⊕  sfi ⊕  sharing ⊕  shifthappens ⊕  smartcities ⊕  smartmeters ⊕  smartphone ⊕  smartsantander ⊕  social ⊕  socialeconomy ⊕  socialmedia ⊕  socialnetwork ⊕  socialnetworks ⊕  socialsoftware ⊕  softinfrastructure ⊕  software ⊕  solar ⊕  sovereignwealth ⊕  space ⊕  spanishflu ⊕  spimes ⊕  sri ⊕  Stanford ⊕  statistics ⊕  sterling ⊕  storage ⊕  strategy ⊕  stuxnet ⊕  survey ⊕  sustainability ⊕  syndication ⊕  talks ⊕  technology ⊕  ted ⊕  TEDGlobal2011 ⊕  telecoms ⊕  terrorism ⊕  tfl ⊕  thingfrastructure ⊕  thingm ⊕  timeline ⊕  tools ⊕  toronto ⊕  tourism ⊕  toys ⊕  traces ⊕  tracking ⊕  tragedyofthecommons ⊕  transmedia ⊕  transport ⊕  travel ⊕  trends ⊕  trojan ⊕  tsunami ⊕  tv ⊕  twitter ⊕  ubiquitouscomputing ⊕  ucdeeb ⊕  uia ⊕  uk ⊕  UN ⊕  university ⊕  urban ⊕  urbanagriculture ⊕  urbancomputing ⊕  urbaninformatics ⊕  urbanlife2030 ⊕  US ⊕  usercentred ⊕  usergenerated ⊕  value ⊕  verticalfarming ⊕  victorygardens ⊕  video ⊕  virtualdesignplatform ⊕  virus ⊕  visualization ⊕  volunteering ⊕  voluntourism ⊕  waste ⊕  water ⊕  weapon ⊕  web ⊕  web2.0 ⊕  wef ⊕  wellness ⊕  whale ⊕  WHO ⊕  wii ⊕  wiki ⊕  wikileaks ⊕  wired ⊕  wireless ⊕  worldofwarcraft ⊕  wsn ⊕  youtube ⊕  zerofootprint ⊕  zigbee ⊕  zoonosis ⊕ 

Copy this bookmark:



description:


tags: